Seriously people used to do this (still do this?) commonly and without a death wish?
Anyone on here ever do this? and…?
(Just read a book about Ted Bundy and I was born in 1978 so maybe this accounts for my curiosity…)
Well, as long as you know where your towel is…
Many used to catch a ride to the next town, or around the country. My last hitchhike was home from college. I kept getting picked up by farmers turning off at the next intersection. Finally a car full of guys killing time - their car could pass anything except a bar. I left and prayed to get a ride before their beers were gone. I’ve picked up some interesting people. One fellow had a souvenir sword - he thought it wise to keep it out of sight in his duffel! Neither party knows what they are getting into. I haven’t considered picking up a hh in years.
I used to hitchhike small distances in town when I was young; I had no serious worries about picking up hitchikers when driving. Like child abductions, bad incidents are much rarer than news reports would make you think - especially when the less vulnerable people, the likliest victims, are probably discouraged by the percieved danger. As a young teenager, I got a lot of rides from the motherly types so they could tell me how dangerous it was to hitchhike. Not surprisingly, men travelling alone are most likely to give rides, and the ones most often seen hitchhiking are younger men.
I recall a discussion at work about picking up strangers on the road when I lived in northern Canada. Some people felt duty-bound to pick up someone who had car trouble and could freeze to death, while a few others said “Not with my family in the car! You think I’m going to let some strange guy cram in beside my young children? Who knows why he went off the road, he could be drunk, high, anything…”
And I did fall for the “2 girls hitchhiking, 2 guys hiding in the bush” routine in Scotland once, but it was fun and an interesting way to practice my Spanish.
I see hitchhikers around here (New England) fairly regularly. I’ve never picked any up.
I haven’t noticed any hitchhikers in my area. I’ve never picked up a hitchhiker.
Since the OP is asking for personal experiences, this is better suited to IMHO than GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Hey, I always hitchhike, I just make sure not to forget my towel
Yeah, I used to do it in the 1970s all the time, locally and long distance. I figure I’ve probably hitchhiked about 10,000 miles, mostly in the US, Australia, and New Zealand. My longest hitchhiking trip was from New York City to Eugene, Oregon, in 1973, with my girlfriend. It took us eight days and I think about 30 hitches. Some were fun, some were scary. We slept under bridges, in fields, and in the cabs of semis. And to pass the time while waiting for a ride, I played a harpoon that I kept in a dirty red bandana.
Regarding “death wish,” considering that general crime rates have gone down hitchhiking could be safer now than it was then. But everyone was less paranoid then than they are now.
You can hitch hike safely in Hawaii and through the good parts of Central America. In Hawaii, you’ll be fine getting in the car. In Central America, it’s best to hop in the back of pickup trucks, although you can ride cars in the friendly, rural areas.
My longest hitchhikes were from Key West to Texas and the big one. Grand Junction, Colorado to Homer, Alaska 14 years ago. I still hitch hike sometimes. It is quite prevelent in Alaska. Some people it is their only mode of travel to and from work. I love it and pick up hitchhikers all the time. If i am traveling in the lower 48 I pick them up there as well. Good way to meet intresting people and shake up the day a bit.
I spent the better part of my teens hitch-hiking around the U.S. and Canada. From New Year’s Eve 1971 through about 1978, off and on. I got robbed a couple of times, but the most life-threatening thing that happened was getting picked up by an extremely drunk driver. I bailed when he stopped in the middle of the highway to take a piss.
Looking back, I know I was lucky, there were certainly psychos running around in those days too, but common sense played a part too. I learned fairly quickly to trust my instincts and turn rides down if I wasn’t comfortable.
I hitchhiked some in the 90’s. My first hitch was from Oregon to Colorado and then back. I went across country from Maryland to Oregon. I went from Oregon to Alaska and back. Also I hitched just around Oregon.
It made for some interesting experiences. There were a couple of sketchy people but for the most part people were friendly.
Truckers make for the best rides if you are trying to make time.
I learned the hard way to always have suntan lotion with you!
Freedom’s just another word for nothin left to lose.
I wanna say I hitchhiked twice, but I don’t remember the first time (or second time if happened later). This was in early 2000s. My car was being fixed and I had to take the bus to school. I’m still not sure if I got on the wrong bus or the wrong stop, I somehow ended up in another town. I wondered into a laundry mat and asked where I was. (It was a very residental area.) The guy talked to me for twenty minutes. I cried and explained what happened. He said if I waited for his shift to before he would drive me to school. He did. Based on this, I think I would hitchhike again.
However, I want to say. Looking back as an adult, the troubling thing is people (includhing teachers) saw me getting out of a strangers car and no one asked what the deal was or called my mom. :eek:
I have the feeling I’ve been in a stranger’s car before and it went well, but maybe it’s a dream (or day dream) that I’ve just accepted as real, even though I can’t think of any circumstances (before or after when I really did hitch a ride) for me to be in a stranger’s car. :dubious:
Born in 1960. I remember tons of hitchhikers in the mid-lat 60’s until the early 80’s. My old man rarely picked them up, though.
Then it kind of died down drastically. Didn’t Abbie Hoffman actively tell hippies to hitchhike back then?
I never really “hitchhiked”, but I accepted a few rides on the side of the road when a car I was driving broke down a couple of times. But I was in in my mid-twenties, trained to fight, and I had a .38 snub in my pocket. I probably was pretty safe.
Never hitched a ride, and other than one very cold family I picked up at a crash scene one winter [black ice 1, car 0] out in the middle of absolute nowhere [I was headed to Caledonia from Attica, some seriously empty countryside there back in the late 70s] who would have died I do not pick up strangers. I will however transport friends if they are having car trouble and I am available. It sucks being stuck without a car. [I have a spare old jetta with minimal insurance that I have been known to loan out to friends if they are having more than just a little trouble and need something for a few weeks]
Yes, when I lived in Toronto as a teenager in the 70s I hitchhiked often. I never had a problem getting a ride. I had two scary experiences in a row. My friend and I got picked up by a dude who started masturbating once we got in. I was sitting in the back and had no idea that this was happening… my friend sat up front and asked the guy to stop the car. He did, thankfully. My second bad experience was when I got in a car and the driver ( a young guy in his 20’s) got on Hwy 401 and started picking up speed. He got his car to go about 185km/hr…that’s about 115mph. I was scared shitless and was begging him to stop the car and let me out. I never hitched again. I was 17.
I’ve picked up hitchhikers before. They were … intense. Like crazy intense. I don’t think I’ll do that again.
It’s not the hitchhikers you’ve got to be worried about. 